A wide variety of heat exchange towers are known in industry. Once such type of tower is an air cooled condenser (ACC) tower. Such a tower is typically a large box-like structure having an open lower frame. The open lower frame may be closed off on two of its sides. The open lower frame supports a deck having a series of fans which blow air upward so that the air is drawn in through the open sides of the tower and is forced upward by the fans. Above the fans the tower supports a series of condenser coils. In some examples, a plurality of steam supply header tubes run lengthwise on the top of the tower and dispense steam downward into angled downwardly extending condenser coils. In some examples, water is heated in a boiler to create steam, which is then sent to a high pressure end of a turbine to create work (via change in energy of the steam). The steam at the low pressure end of the turbine then is condensed by the condenser to create a vacuum that pulls the steam through the turbine. At the bottom of the angled downwardly extending condenser coils is a series of collection header tubes which receives condensed fluid and exits it from the tower. The entirety of the condenser coils is usually located above the fans. Air is exhausted out the open top of the tower past the steam supply header tubes.
Since the condensation coils are warmer compared to the ambient air entering the tower, as the air passes through the coils it tends to be warmed and tends to rise. This creates a natural draft which would draw some air into the sides of the tower below the coils and upward through the coils. However, it has generally been found in some applications that the natural draft is insufficient to provide a desired operation level. Therefore, in many instances a deck of the fans is added below the coils to provide a greater volume of air flow.
These systems have been found to be very satisfactory in use for condensing steam. However, it is always desirable to reduce the fan energy that must be input into the system in order to reduce the total energy cost of the system for a given temperature transfer given flow rate requirement of the condenser tower system. It is also desirable to improve the tower performance when subjected to winds from various angles, at least sometimes.